Sacha Baron Cohen to spoof Bond

A new report in Variety reveals that Baron Cohen's next project will involve, "a James Bond-like spy forced to go on the run with his long-lost brother, a moronic soccer hooligan."

We're not the first to point out that the Bond franchise is hardly an original spoofing ground. Austin Powers is one of many to have poked fun at 007.

At the moment the new project is just being pitched at Paramount with SBC as a writer alongside much-hyped Cedar Rapids scribe Phil Johnston. It's assumed that he will also star.

Will Daniel Craig's 007 be the subject of Baron Cohen's mockery? With Skyfall looking amazing, we rather doubt it.

Perhaps the classic Bond movies, with all those cheesy one-liners, are riper for a ripping. Though it's not as if that hasn't been done before.

The new Sacha Baron Cohen flick can poke fun at Bond and suggest the international superspy but can't actually name him or refer to the franchise directly. Those rights belong to EON productions and Sony.

An unoriginal idea? Perhaps not. Sacha doesn't appear to be doing a straight-up Bond parody here and he may even end up playing the 'football hooligan brother', leaving an intriguing casting decision for the role of the spy.

Sacha has enjoyed a string of box office successes with The Dictator, Bruno and Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan.